How a Purple Fan Reminds Me that God Repurposes Us

Tonight I found Eli’s bike helmet! After looking for a few days in the garage,I finally spotted it…..right next to the back door. Placed in it’s usual place-on the shelves reserved for shoes and random seasonal objects that are frequently brought outside It’s been there for three weeks; since the last time Eli wore the helmet. In fact, it was still sitting there a few days ago when Eli was ready to embark on a bike ride with a friend. She had her helmet on. Eli? Well…..I couldn’t find it. I was sure it was in the garage. I scanned the garage looking for a neon green helmet to draw me to it…..but it didn’t happen. I sent him on his way, assuring myself he would be O.K. this time since he was on sidewalks and with another parent.But….where was that helmet?

Tonight, I thought I’d take another look outside in the garage. The OCD in me was beckoning me to find it. As I checked around the back door area, I spotted it-on the shelf. It’s not an unusual place for it to be found. Why didn’t I see it there before? For one thing, it was laying top side down so the color was not obvious. But….the bigger reason is that it no longer was seen as a helmet to me.It was one of many random objects that find their way to the shelf in the course of daily journeys in and out. If it isn’t used daily, the object becomes a “decoration” of sorts that symbolizes childhood activity. I no longer saw it as a helmet.When I found it, I exclaimed, “I found the helmet! It was a purple fan!“

My husband knew what I was talking about. My kids wondered if I’d lost it (my sanity, not the helmet). “The purple fan” refers to an experience my husband and I had when we were first married (that sounds a little weird-keep reading). One day, we couldn’t find our box fan in our small apartment. We looked around for a while and could not figure out what happened to it.Did we throw it away and forget about it?And then……we both spotted it!You see, as a young couple living simply, we had put our alarm clock on the fan. It had become a side table to us; not a fan. You would think the purple spray paint would have made it a dead give-away. Nope. It’s all in your perspective.

Just like that fan, we move into seasons of repurposing. We may look the same, but our time and energy may be invested in a new calling.

The renaming comes with a purpose and a season. We may end up serving God in a way we could have never imagined. It may be something that touches the lives of many or it may touch the life of one. That name/title may last one day or it may last years…..Isaiah proclaimed these words from the Lord to Israel before they received a new name. : “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” Isaiah 43:19